VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum Rear main rope seal

Boy I wished I had read this about the rear oil rope seal replacement before I pulled the old one out. Got the tool , which I would not recommend , get a better one to save your hands, and seal from NAPA , the seal is a FEL PRO rope seal and it is way too large to get pulled through the top slot , I have rolled it and stretched it thinking it would thin down as it was played with , tried pulling it an got nothing done except a tool that broke an sliced my fingers. any ideas ?? I am feeling stupid right now an wonder will I have to loosen up the other main bearings to gain clearance or pull the motor out of the car to complete the job ? thanks for any good ideas Rick

Hi Stoker,

I assume you are working on a later engine that does have a rear main seal.

Replacing the upper half is always a difficult task. There is a trick that others have posted in Chat.

Using a small diameter non-metallic punch (plastic or wooden dowel) drive the exposed ends of the upper seal as far as you can up into the groove in the block. Then take short pieces of the old lower seal and drive them up into the space at the lower end of the upper groove. Keep doing that until you cannot install any more pieces. Then trim the ends flush with the block. The idea is that you can make the upper seal expand a little bit and fit tighter against the sealing surface on the crankshaft.

If there is a groove worn into that sealing surface I doubt if you will stop the leakage even with a new properly installed upper and lower rope seal.

If it were mine yes I would loosen all main bearings. There is a tool by KD that is made to remove and install the rope seal. Once installed I would then tighten the bearings to spec and follow the advise given above by Rusty 37.

Good morning , thought I would update my post, watched a Utube vidio an the guy recommended Best seal as the only way to go and after getting one I believe he was right. after fitting it into the bottom cap an using some silicon lube and a Leisle Sneaky Pete I got it installed. It is a big job no doubt about it. that Fel Pro seal is about twice the size of the Best seal and even stressing it out could not be made to fit., maybe it works well with the crank removed ?? Have not put the oil in yet ,but I am glad Its replaced as the old one crumbled as it was removed. thanks everyone for your thoughts and ideas. Rick